By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

With time running out to find a new location and several possibilities explored but found either unavailable or not a good fit, the Bridgton Food Pantry was nearing a point of desperation.

And then, the Pantry’s prayer was answered, just in time.

A temporary home has been found. The Pantry will use a 1,400-square-foot trailer to be placed at the back section of the St. Joseph Church parking lot off South High Street.

“It was awful. We were amazed at the number of people who were unwilling to help,” said Reed Holden, who serves on the Pantry’s Board and is spearheading the effort to build a new food pantry structure at the corner of Main and Cross Streets (adjacent from Harmon Field), regarding the search for a temporary pantry site. “But in the end, St. Joseph Church has graciously allowed us to put a trailer on the parking lot back section. The trailer will be moved in this week. I can’t say enough how great they (St. Joseph) have been in both what they did in their support and going forward.”

A few Pantry board members happen to be St. Joseph parishioners. They reached out to Pastor, the Rev. Edward Clifford, explaining the Food Pantry’s dilemma.

“The Pastor graciously agreed to let us reside there,” Holden said. “When I heard about it, I said ‘perfect.’ We got lucky.”

Holden reported that electrical hook-ups were in the works. Temporarily, the Pantry will use the church’s freezers and refrigerators until power is ready to service the trailer and units are moved in. A company has been hired to move the pantry’s refrigerators and freezers at the end of this month.

The expected opening date at the new location is April 1.

“And, that’s no joke,” Holden quipped. “We expect to be serving out of that location through December.”

On the other front, Holden said the Pantry hopes to sign a contract for construction of a new building at 498 Main Street soon with construction to start in July, if the project receives Planning Board approval.

“We have yet to approve either a budget or a plan, but I will say at this point, I expect that to happen fairly quickly,” Holden said.

The ability to move forward to build a new pantry was made possible by two anonymous donations totaling $1 million. The Pantry’s Development Committee, led by Lynn Welbourne, will continue its capital fundraising campaign (see info about how to make a donation).

While uncertainty has left some on edge, Holden said Pantry director Penni Robbins and her crew “have been absolute troopers during this process.”

“People have stepped up to the plate, and I’ve got to say, they hit it out of the park this time,” said Holden, a timely quote with the new major league baseball season on the horizon.

If citizens want more information about the new pantry project, they are welcome to reach out to Holden via e-mail. When a pre-application presentation was made to the Planning Board months ago, several neighborhood residents posed questions and made comments about the use of the 498 Main Street property. Holden handed out business cards encouraging folks to reach out to him with their questions so he could then provide accurate information about the vision and goals of the Bridgton Food Pantry.

“I offered to get together for a coffee. I offered to meet at people’s houses. Only one person reached out to us and that was to resolve a property issue. No one else has approached us. This is going to be a building that people can be proud of. We’re bending over backwards to make it that way,” he said. “If you want a vibrant community, you have to provide support for people coming into that community as well as people who are in the community going through a rough time. That’s what the pantry does.”

While the pantry does serve some “long-term” users, based on interviews he’s done, Holden found that “most of the population use it as a temporary support as they go through a rough time.”

At times, the Bridgton Pantry will run out of some food items by afternoon, “not because we can’t get them, but because we have no place to store the items,” Holden added. “The new pantry is going to solve that problem.”

Although it came down to the wire to find a solution where to relocate the pantry, Reed Holden believes in the end it all worked out for the best.

“When you serve a population, you want that population to be proud coming to you. We’re trying to get people back on their feet and anything we can do to help them do that, aside from food, things like self-respect, that’s very important,” Holden said. “The Bridgton Food Pantry is a class five operation. That means it’s the best, even though it operates in the basement of an antique church. The reason it’s a class five is the people, those who come here and those who work here…We all live in a community that you either want to be a part of or you don’t, especially when it’s in need. My experience in the community is that people want to understand and they want to help. That’s what we need to see more of.”